


My Best Friend

by randomfandomimagine



Series: Imagines (Reader Insert) [2]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Fake Dating, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 14:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16120721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomfandomimagine/pseuds/randomfandomimagine
Summary: Jake and Y/N have been best friends for a long time and they’re comfortable in their relationship. One day everything changes when they encounter her ex-boyfriend.





	My Best Friend

I wiped my tears of laughter and cheerfully slapped Jake on the arm, catching my breath after the laugh attack.

“You okay there, Y/N?” He chuckled, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, no biggie” I wiped my mouth, since I had soda all around it. “I just almost choked to death on my drink thanks to you, stupid”

“It’s not my fault that you laughed so hard, you know?”

“It is! You’re the one that said that stupid joke!”

“Sorry, I won’t do it again”

The face he made next was far too innocent to be genuine, but I let it slide knowing I would get nowhere calling him out about it. There was a brief pause as we kept walking, and just when I took another sip of my drink it happened.

Jake tapped my shoulder, and when I looked at him he was making one of his stupid faces. Opening his eyes wide, sticking his tongue out and stretching his lips in a weird way. He knew I found those faces hilarious, and I did that time too.

I spit out my drink once more as I was overcome with uncontrollable laughter. Jake celebrated his victory with a small whoop and an arm gesture of triumph. I knew he was up to something.

“Jake!” I told him off, coughing as this time I was even closer to choking.

“Oh my god, sorry” He placed his hand on my back. “I don’t want you to actually choke, I just wanted to make you laugh!”

I glared at him as I recovered and punched him in the upper arm. He complained and clutched that area, making a pouty face. He showed me the puppy eyes I had seen so many times so I would forgive him.

“I hate you” I said, even if a smile made its way to my lips.

Jake didn’t reply, he just dedicated me that sweet little grin I liked so much. That smile I knew so well and let me know how comfortable he felt, how much he was enjoying himself.

I linked my arm with his and we continued walking, chatting and enjoying his free day as we wandered around and did anything we felt like. It had been a while.

I had known Jake Peralta for a long time, and we had become very close over the course of so many years. Our friendship was special, intimate and natural. We knew we could count on each other, be ourselves and have the best of times whenever we hung out. So it was nice that he got a little break from his busy NYPD work to meet with me again.

I was distracted from this pleasant thought when I saw something that upset me.

“Oh my god, Jake!” I clutched to his arm on an instinct, startled by what I had just seen.

“What! Where?” He immediately placed his arms around me and stuck me to his chest, turning around with me so he used his body as a shield to protect me. “Where’s the danger?!”

“There’s no danger!” I reassured him, knowing his cop instinct took over. “It’s just him!”

“Him who?” Still not letting go of me, Jake looked over his shoulder.

“My nemesis” I explained, tapping his arms to remind him I was still locked between his chest and his arms as he held me tight. Not that I was too uncomfortable, though.

“Your ex-boyfriend?” Jake knew enough about me to realize who I was talking about. “But I thought that happened a long time ago”

“Yeah…” I muttered, still feeling insecure about the whole thing. “But I still hate the guy”

“He really hurt you, didn’t he?” My friend finally let go of me and I positioned myself so I was facing him.

“Well, yeah… And I don’t want to talk to him, he was right about me and he’ll get all smug when he sees me, you know?” I averted my gaze, flustered by the look Jake was giving me as he frowned sadly.

“No, he wasn’t!” In one of his rare but genuine gestures, Jake took my hand and fondly squeezed it in his. “He didn’t appreciate you, and you deserve so much better than that jerk”

“Thanks, Jake, but everything he said about me is true” I sighed and squeezed his hand in frustration, feeling tears of anger arriving to my eyes. “I have no job, no boyfriend and no nothing. I’m a loser”

Jake gasped, and for once it wasn’t an exaggerated one. He was genuinely upset about what I had just said.

“Don’t you dare say those things about yourself, Y/N” My friend tugged at my hand and brought me closer to garner my attention completely. “Just because he thinks like that doesn’t mean it’s true. You are amazing, you are the best, and you shouldn’t even care what that stupid jerk face thinks”

“I know…” Wanting to know where he was, I looked over Jake’s shoulder to him. My ex-boyfriend happened to be looking in our direction, so I jumped in alarm. “He’s looking at us!”

“Really?” Much to my dismay, Jake smirked and turned around. “Maybe we should say hi”

“No, Jake, please!” I held his arm tightly, not liking the glance he was giving him. He didn’t even care he was staring back. “I’d be so embarrassed, he would just mock me and-“

“No he won’t” Jake interrupted me, I had never seen him acting so cunningly. “We’re gonna show him what he’s missed and how much of an idiot he is”

“Jake, don’t make a big deal out of it, please…” I begged him, not wanting to complicate things.

“He’ll be lucky if I don’t punch him in that ugly face of his” Jake clenched his teeth, I had never seen him so angry before. However, I was moved that he cared so much about me. Even if I knew already, he was my best friend after all. But it was still heartwarming to see him caring so much.

Still glaring daggers at him, my best friend put an arm over my shoulders and took me with him as he walked with determination over to my ex-boyfriend.

“Hey… you” Jake started off with clear disgust on his voice as he spoke with a scornful tone. “Long time no see”

“Oh, it’s you…” My ex emulated his tone, and when his eyes landed on me, my heart skipped a beat. “And Y/N”

“Hi…” I was so divided between my hatred for him because how much he neglected me and the fact that I once was in love with him as well that I didn’t know how to react.

“I just want you to know how stupid you are” When Jake spoke, I had to suppress a gasp seeing how blunt and shameless he was being. “You never deserved Y/N on the first place”

I blushed, flattered by Jake’s words. Especially since I knew he meant every single one of them. However, I didn’t like how tense his jaw was and how angry he was getting. A serious Jake was never a good thing.

“Yeah, you told me that last time” My ex-boyfriend brushed the comment off, but I mentally saved that information. As far as I knew, the last time they saw they just glared at each other. Did Jake lecture him without me knowing? That would be… endearing, somehow. “I still don’t see what you mean”

“I mean that Y/N is the most wonderful person you’ll ever have the luck to run into, and it’s your loss that you’re dumb enough not to realize” Still protectively, Jake’s arm brought me closer to him and I smiled up at him even if he was fiercely staring at the other guy.

“What, you’re together now?” I froze at the question, knowing the answer would only bring me shame and embarrassment. And insufferable smugness on his side.

“As a matter of fact, we are” When I looked back at Jake, he was smirking and his hand gently squeezed my upper arm as in silent communication.

His answer took me by surprise, but I didn’t dare to state otherwise. I just stood there, feeling out of place yet somewhat safe in Jake’s half embrace.

“Yeah, right” My ex-boyfriend huffed in contempt.

“You don’t believe me?” Jake challenged him, and there was something in his tone that alarmed me. I wasn’t fast enough to react, I just resigned to his plan.

My friend took me by the shoulders and before I knew, his lips were on mine. It was an incredibly warm and passionate exchange taking in consideration it was make pretend. And the most unexpected part was that it brought butterflies to my stomach, as well as a wonderful chill that took all over me. I was left breathless, and for the first time in my life it was in the best of ways.

I couldn’t hold back an amused guffaw as I looked back at the other guy. His eyes were wide and he seemed… repentant? Jake was right, this was a great idea.

“If you’ll excuse us” Jake looked down at me with a grin and then back up to him. “We have a lovely and romantic evening ahead of us”

Not even waiting for a response, we turned around and continued walking. When I thought we were done, Jake looked over his shoulder once more and showed him a sarcastic grin that held so much disdain that it clashed with Jake’s usual goofy and friendly expression. When I looked at the other guy he seemed completely dumbfounded, and I happily laughed at the result.

*

We continued our ‘date’ like nothing had happened. So we were in Jake’s apartment, ready to do one of our Die Hard marathons. He was in the kitchen preparing popcorn while I sat on the couch, quiet and thoughtful.

We hadn’t spoken about it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about our encounter with my ex-boyfriend. And it wasn’t even that Jake stood up for me like that, which was still very moving and endearing, but… it was something else. Something had changed, even if I tried to conceal it.

I saw Jake differently now, and it wasn’t because he did that for me. He had always been that caring towards me, just like I was towards him. We had each other’s back, we loved each other and were fiercely protective of one another. I wasn’t surprised that he did or say any of it, it was something else.

It was the kiss. Even though I knew it was coming when Jake said ‘you don’t believe me?’ I could have never foretold its effect on me. How much I had enjoyed it, how warm and pleasant it was. How right it felt. How much I craved to do it again.

I was so confused, because I had always been so affectionate towards him. It was in a friendly way, maybe cuddling or taking his arm or even kissing him in the cheek. Our friendship was so intimate that those gestures felt casual and natural between us. And even if Jake wasn’t as openly affectionate as I was, it wasn’t strange when he would hold my hand or hug me. So why did I feel awkward about cuddling him now? We always did when we watched movies!

“Popcorn’s ready!” When Jake walked into the room again, I jumped as he had violently ripped me from my thoughts and back to reality. “Wow, you okay?”

“Yup” I smiled at him as he sat down next to me and pretended like everything was fine. But I knew he would see through me, he knew me too well.

“Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about that jerk face” He put the bowl of popcorn on his lap and rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Forget about him, he deserved being called out like that”

I affectionately pinched his cheek in appreciation. And after all, Jake was absolutely right.

My ex-boyfriend was never the worst, but he was a bad partner. He made me feel insecure, barely paid any attention to me, didn’t take my feeling or wishes into consideration and blamed me for things that weren’t my fault. Jake was really happy when we broke up, he was always telling me how much he hated him even back then, saying that I was too good for him.

Wanting to focus on the moment and not dwell on my thoughts, I picked a handful of popcorn and shoved them in my mouth. Jake watched me with a fond grin.

“Let’s get this party started” I said with a mouthful of popcorn.

“Welcome to the party, pal!” He replied in his John McClane voice, making a goofy face before he focused his attention on the TV and turned it on.

In an automatic gesture, I was about to rest my head on his shoulder, but I stopped myself when the butterflies returned to my stomach. It was a good thing I knew the movie by heart, because I wouldn’t be able to focus on it this time.

I watched Bruce Willis on the plane, but didn’t pay too much attention to it. I was just thinking about Jake sitting next to me, wondering if the kiss had the same impact on him as it did on me. Judging by the glint of his eyes as he watched the movie, I would say he wasn’t too bothered by the memory of it.

Probably noticing I was staring, Jake looked down to me. I forced a smile hoping he bought the innocent gesture. Since he kept staring, I improvised.

“Hey, Jake”

“Yeah?”

“Would you say you are a… die hard Die Hard fan?”

Proud of my silly pun, he let out a loud guffaw of laughter and kindly patted my knee.

“Noice!” He exclaimed with an energetic head nod. “How come I didn’t think of that myself before?”

“Cause you’re duuuumb” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he kept laughing. Then his glance returned to the screen even if the grin lingered on his lips.

I was safe for now. But I couldn’t stop watching that smile plastered on his lips, on those enticing soft lips. Dammit, why did he have to kiss me!

I looked down and wringed my hands in apprehension. Maybe I wasn’t in love with Jake, maybe he just was an objectively speaking good kisser and that was why I enjoyed the kiss. Yeah, that must have been it.

“Are you even watching the movie?” Jake asked me, he was starting to get suspicious.

“Of course I’m watching the movie!” I hurried to get some more popcorn. “Does it sound like I’m ordering a pizza?”

The corner of his lips curved up slightly at yet another reference, but he still stared at me. He sensed something about me was off. I brushed it off by shoving my hand into the popcorn bowl again, it just so happened that Jake was doing the same thing at that very moment.

I had to make a great effort not to yelp and I felt my cheeks burning, I was probably blushing. I was over thinking, I wasn’t actually flustered because my hand brushed against my best friend’s hands. I didn’t want him to hold my hand again…

But Jake seemed unconcerned, he was used to those kind of touches. And me too, just that not then.

Jake slowly turned to the TV once more, but he wasn’t too subtle and I noticed how he looked at me with the corner of his eye as he slowly ate his popcorn. I pretended to be watching the movie, even if I was watching him with the corner of my eye as well.

“You okay?” Jake asked me out of the blue, and I was surprised that he seemed to have completely forgotten about the movie. Die Hard. His favourite movie ever.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” I innocently said, dedicating him my best smile.

“Cuddles. Whenever we watch a movie you always want cuddles” He said it as it was obvious, but I was so tense that I had forgotten about that fact now.

“Oh, that…” I grew very self-conscious as he stared at me. “It’s nothing”

“Talk to me, Y/N, you know you can tell me anything” He softly bumped his shoulder into mine. “Is something worrying you?”

“Well…” I wanted to tell him, but I didn’t know how.

“Are you worried about that jerk? Do you think he’ll bother you because of today?”

“Nah, he’s a coward” I brushed it off, realizing I didn’t care about him anymore. At all. And thinking back to my reaction and cringing at how childish I was. “It’s not that, Jakey”

“Then what is it? Please tell me, I can tell you’re upset about something”

“Okay… Truth is I…”

“Yeah?”

“Well…” I paused to look into his sweet brown eyes and found myself spitting it out. “You kissed me”

“Oh!” Jake jumped a little, startled by my candor. But then he chuckled awkwardly. “About that… I know I should have asked you first, but I thought it would be cool. And it was cool, right? I mean, did you see his face?”

“Yeah” I smiled with a twisted satisfaction as I remembered the look of utter surprise in his face. “But I wasn’t talking about that”

“Really?” My friend slightly turned to me, curious and apparently playful. Even if I knew him so well that I could tell he was a bit nervous. “Then what’s the matter with the kiss?”

I nibbled my bottom lip on apprehension, still staring into his kind brown eyes and being smitten with them. With him, in general.

I knew I could tell him, he was my best friend after all. I needed to know what he thought about it, and I knew we would work things out, we always had. We were too close to be torn apart by this. By a simple kiss.

“I…” I gawked at him, having a great difficulty confessing. He nodded in anticipation, encouraging me to continue. “I… liked it”

“You liked it” Jake repeated, baffled.

“I think… I’m falling in love with you” I gulped, watching how his expression of caution and confusion didn’t change. If things went wrong, I could always pretend it was a joke, though.

After a few seconds, Jake sighed in relief and smiled. It was such a drastic change in his demeanor that I shook my head in shock.

“Oh, thank god…” He muttered, resting one hand against his chest.

“What?!” I exclaimed, frantically searching his face for any signs that he might be messing with me.

“I’ve been crazy for you for a while now” Jake frowned, and all of a sudden I realized how he was looking at me. It was a special way, that I thought was friendly affection. But it was more than that.

“A while?!”

“It was when you were dating that jerk, I realized I wanted to date you because I couldn’t stop thinking about how you deserved to be treated better. And I wanted to be the one to do that, not that… stupid… jerk face”

“You were jealous”

“Yeah, I was jealous”

There was a pause in which I felt breathless again, but I didn’t mind. Then Jake lovingly placed my hair behind my ear, carefully, tenderly. My heart fluttered.

“Why didn’t you tell me, silly?” I was more surprised about the fact that he hid it so well. Jake Peralta, the guy that was terrible at keeping secrets, had me fooled thinking he only saw me as a friend.

“I don’t know, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I never found the courage to confess” He smiled a little, but timidly averted his eyes. “And I didn’t know if you felt the same, so I wanted to save myself the embarrassment”

“Embarrassment?” I teased him to evade the fact that he had a hard time opening up sometimes. “Yeah, because that feeling is foreign to you”

“Shut up” He chuckled, daring to cup my cheek with his hand. I shivered under his gentle touch.

“What are you waiting for then, Peralta?” I grinned, feeling my heart racing just thinking about it. “Kiss me, stupid”

Next came the most genuine, bright and beautiful smile I had seen him compose, followed by the most amazing kiss I had ever experienced. It was better than the unexpected one Jake gave me a few hours ago, because this time we took our time with it.

We melted into the kiss, we clung on to each other as our mouths moved in sync and our hands brought each other closer. The closeness wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t strange, it was right.

He was my best friend after all. But now, he was that and so much more.


End file.
